


We Three Kings

by keepingsecrets



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Marauders, Off-screen Character Death, POV First Person, ambiguous character, unnamed narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-27
Updated: 2007-08-27
Packaged: 2017-11-15 06:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepingsecrets/pseuds/keepingsecrets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the first day James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black entered Hogwarts, she watched them. Three young men, each with their own secrets, but an inner strength that defied all. Over the years, they became close, and in the end, became what she knew they would always be. Three kings. Her three kings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Three Kings

 

 

I watched them from the first day they entered the halls of Hogwarts. Three young men, each with their own inner demons, each with a deep desire to prove their worth in their own unique way. I suppose that's where their tale of friendship began. In the halls of Hogwarts, in the Great Hall as they were Sorted, one by one, into Gryffindor.

Atlas, they called me, bearer of the world and all its burdens. It made sense, what with everything I did. Even though I was the silent one, I was the quiet elder sibling of every one of my Housemates, and the majority of the other students. It didn't matter what the problem was, they came to me, and talked.

The first time they talked to me, it was one at a time. Humorously enough, it was about the others in their House, their trepidation of befriending one of their yearmates because they were a little different or quieter than what they were used to. At the time, it was as though I was talking to three very young regal princes, each unique in their own way, each unsure of what the future would bring, each wary of what secrets friendship would hold.

Soon, my three princes were well on their way of discovering how powerful the bond of friendship, of brotherhood, could be.

After that first night, they came to me by themselves or in pair or trios. James sought advice on girls, on a certain Lily Evans in particular; Sirius looked for someone to listen to him about his family, about his secret fears, and to provide him with something few others would have believed...a shoulder to cry on; lastly, little Remus frequently searched me out for long talks on his lycanthropy, and just what it meant to him as a person and just what the future would hold outside of Hogwarts. Every so often, young Pettigrew would tag along, spending the time listening and never speaking. It shames me a bit now to say that I saw a bit of myself in the short boy. I, too, was shy and quiet and had once wished to be popular...but no longer. I was far more content to watch and advise as the children of Hogwarts grew, to watch my princes grow into kings.

There was never much doubt in Hogwarts as to who was a ruler, whom was destined to be a shining star, whom had the charisma to light up the entire school.

James was a bright one from the first day he arrived at the school, and the years only enhanced his stature. Smart, clever, and a gifted athlete, he was truly a king of anything he set his brilliant mind to, aptly proven by his marks and the frequent ingenious prank. He shone the brightest of the three lions, his outgoing ways making him the most spotlight-loving king.

Sirius, my dangerous shadow, was a heartthrob. It didn't matter how old or young the female in question might be, he would have her enchanted within minutes, weaving his handsome looks and charming ways into a spell that proved unbreakable. He was, in nearly every respect, James' twin brother. Just as intelligent, clever, and astoundingly creative as his best friend, Sirius held the charisma and rashness of my three royal ones. Able to captivate a room, and simultaneously, cause pandemonium with his act-first-think-later words and actions.

Remus was, quite plainly, one of the most brilliant minds to have ever entered the halls of Hogwarts. Witty, intellectual, and utterly exceptional, he had not only the ability to excel in his classes, as well as any other challenge thrown at him, but also a certain knack for planning for the future. More that once, he came to me bubbling over with plans, plans for improving lifestyles of those whom wizarding society looked down upon, plans for ways to gently integrate the wizarding world with the Muggle world. Plans that, for the most part, would have succeeded, if given half of a chance. He, of three little kings, was the ruler. He didn't have the popularity of James or the charisma of Sirius, but he had the true heart of a leader who cared deeply for his people.

My three little kings, I affectionately called them, a title they accepted more than a bit sheepishly. It embarrassed them, or so I thought, that I would bestow upon them a royal title, a plain sign of favor, but they never uttered a word. Nothing. Only a shy grin, and abashed duck of their heads whenever it affected them.

They were such a joy to watch as they grew. Never boring, always adapting, but never once did any of them lose the sweetness at their core. It was a glimpse of James' sweet inner nature that brought Lily close to him, and from there, completely captivated her. Remus' warm spirit was quite visible from his personality, a gentle-natured soul who was as sweet as anyone could ask. Sirius, on the other hand, possessed a darker sort of nature, dark chocolate to his friends' milk. Still sweet, but had a bitter, biting sort of edge to it. I suppose now that it was part of what drew girls to him like bees to honey, the mysterious sort of dark sweetness.

They graduated with honors, each of them. While Lily was first in the class, Dumbledore allowed the three boys to make a speech following hers at the graduation ceremony. Each boy reminisced about their favorite memories, finally owning up to which of them had been the one to go caroling through the halls before Christmas dressed as a satyr--Remus--, and which of them had bribed Peeves into bombarding all of the girls with water balloons--James--, and which person had been the one that managed to swap McGonagall and Slughorn's robes during the holidays--Sirius. Then, after their audience was nearly sobbing from their laughter, they sobered, and gave as heartfelt a speech as anyone could have asked for.

I never will forget their last words to their yearmates and the massed friends and relatives whom had stayed for the graduation.

"A very wise woman once dubbed us as kings. Her three kings. It was a title she bestowed upon us when we were runty little second-years, a little too big for our britches, and with less sense between us than Filch's cat. We couldn't understand why she would give us such a royal title when we were far from kingly figures. Then, this last year, we figured it out. She had seen in us exactly what our professors, parents, and friends, had seen in us all along. Strong-willed people, committed to do what was in the best interest of others, with the potential to do great things. She, unlike the others, never told us to behave, or to grow up. She named us kings, knowing that one day, we would live up to the title she gave us all those years ago. Each of us, in our own way, has become a king or queen. Over the past seven years, we all have grown up and begun turning into the people our loved ones always knew we would become. From paupers to kings, we have all come from humble, and sometimes embarrassing, beginnings to now coming into the wisdom bestowed upon us not only by birth, but also the knowledge passed onto us from our friends, our parents, and our teachers. We three kings salute you."

That wouldn't be the last time my three kings reduced me to tears, but it was the one time I was not ashamed to let them see the tears running down my cheeks to see just how proud I was of them. They had truly become kings. 

 

 

 

 

}---------{

  
My brightest king, James, was the first to fall. I don't think Sirius and Remus ever recovered from his loss. It might have been naïve of me to think this, but I truly did think that after he and Lily finally married, and had little Harry, that their lives would be happy, long, and full of love and laughter. They were a bright light amidst all of the darkness surrounding the wizarding world. He knew he was going to die, or so he confided in me a handful of times. Ever since the prophecy was made about either his son or the Longbottom boy, James had accepted that he was going to die, most likely before he had a chance to see his son grow to be a man. At least he was spared having to see Lily die. A small mercy.

Next to die was my charismatic, darkly elegant king Sirius. He was unbalanced in the end, slowly losing his mind to the past, all those years wrongfully imprisoned in Azkaban affected him in deep ways. Few people saw the true depth of his downward spiral into insanity, few people save myself and Remus. It was tragic in so many ways. The death of something that had once been so beautiful, so hauntingly elegant, so full of love of life that not a time goes by now that tears don't come to my eyes when I think about my little shadow-king's death. At least he died defending Harry. It was the death he would have wanted, one in battle, beside a boy who could easily have been mistaken for James, protecting his best friend and soul-brother's son.

Remus, dear sweet Remus, was the last king to fall. He suffered so much in his life I thought it was one of the crueler things in the world that he had been taken before witnessing his son grow to be a fine young man. Surely he, of my three little kings, deserved a reprieve from the harsh realities of war. At least I can take some comfort in his death. He died with his wife, whom helped him find joy in life once more.

I found a letter from my kings this morning sitting on my bedside table. They had charmed it to be delivered to me on the morning after the last of them had died. Somehow, they knew I would be the one to survive these dreadful wars, and would be the one they knew would tell their sons, and their sons' sons, of their story.

It was a short letter, scrawled out in each of their distinctive handwriting. So familiar a sight, even years after I had last seen a scrap of a note from James, it caused my heartstrings to tug, even as silent tears coursed down my cheeks.

_Atlas,_

_If you are reading this, and hopefully you aren't, then your three kings have kicked the bucket, though hopefully we went down fighting. If we didn't, James and Sirius ask that you find their ghosts and give them a swift kick in the...well, you know what they mean._

_Don't cry for us, old friend. We died as we would have wanted, and with little Harry, and hopefully little Padfoots and Moonys running around, you'll always have a little bit of us lingering on the earth with you._

_We know you'll tell our sons (and daughters, Sirius adds) about us, and how we were just like them when we were younger. I'd like you to make sure that Harry gets the Marauders Map, and, if you can track down Dumbledore, have him give Harry my Invisibility Cloak once Harry starts at Hogwarts. Lily might kill me for it, but I daresay that my son will want to try to cause as much mischief as his old man and even older uncles._

_Consider James elbowed rather hard, Atlas._

_In all seriousness, please don't grieve for us. We three kings have lived a royal life, full of laughter, happiness, and love. We have loved. We have lost. But most of all, we have found each other and formed a bond of unshakable friendship that wouldn't have even existed without a certain young woman encouraging us along._

_Thank you, Atlas. Thank you so much. We could never repay you for what you have given us, but we hope that we at least made you proud, proud to have known us, and prouder still to have been our closest friend._

_We love you._

_Forever and always,_

_Your Three Kings._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely loathe writing in first person, but for some reason, that's the way that this one-shot wanted to be written. Un-beta'd, but this is **not** my first fanfic, not by a long shot. Atlas is meant to be a somewhat ambiguous character, and it's up to the reader to decide which female canon character she is. 
> 
> Originally posted 8-27-2007 on hpff under the penname "Dark Moon".
> 
> Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


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